The present invention relates to a shower and tub enclosure door system and in particular to an adjustable mounting system for such doors.
Shower and tub enclosures typically have a back wall, two end walls and an opening therebetween. To prevent water from splashing onto the bathroom floor when showering, the opening is ordinarily closed by a curtain or door allowing ingress into the enclosure. Shower curtains are generally less costly than doors, but provide less sealing around the edges of the opening and usually need to be replaced after extended use. Depending on the size of the opening, shower door systems will usually include a single, hinged or pivoting door or a pair of track-mounted sliding by-pass doors.
In either case, conventional shower door systems must be sized to fit in the enclosure opening. Many enclosure openings are of standard dimensions, however, this is not always the case. Shower door manufacturers often need to specially manufacture the door assembly according to the size of individual enclosures, which is costly. Alternatively, various elements (such as the header track) of standard sized door systems could be cut down, either by the manufacturer or consumer, according to the dimensions of the opening. However, if cut too short, the trimmed item could be unusable such that it would have to be replaced, thereby delaying installation and adding cost.
Adjustable shower door systems have been developed that allow the doors to be mounted in shower enclosure openings within a range of dimensions. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,035,957 provides a shower door system with a frame that can be adjusted in width to support a pivoting door panel. The upper and lower cross-members have telescoping profiles that can be moved relative to each other as needed to vary the overlap between a fixed panel and the pivoting door panel. The outer ends of the cross-members are mounted to the enclosure walls and the frame is secured together with the door pivots in the adjusted position. While this system provides adjustment, it is not suitable for both pivoting and sliding doors, and it must be anchored to the walls of the enclosure, which damages the surfaces of the enclosure walls, which are often tiled.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,286,343; 5,033,132 and 5,822,810 provide other adjustable systems for closing openings in shower and tub enclosures. However, they are all designed for collapsible screens or curtains, rather than rigid door panels, be it pivoting or by-pass. Moreover, the system of the '343 patent mounts the roll-up screen in a vertical orientation and the systems of the '132 and '810 patents must be permanently anchored to the walls. Further, the system of the '862 patent provides a curtain support with a header rail connected to end assemblies having spring biased plungers that press against opposing walls of the enclosure to secure the curtain support in place. Although the spring biased plungers accommodate minor variance in width of the enclosure opening, the curtain rail must be cut down to adjust the width of the curtain support. As with the others, this system is also not suitable to support rigid door panels.
Thus, an improved shower and tub door system is needed.